Sun Prairie, WI (12/1/02)----Aaron Fike won the 2002 National Midget Driver of the Year Championship, in the closest battle in the four year history of the award.

       Fike edged Mike Hess by four points to win the honors, with Dave Darland, and defending champion Tracy Hines following as only 33 points separted the top four drivers. A total of 537 drivers scored points in the 220 events run nationwide over a 327 day time period, at 83 tracks in 27 states. 
       Fike 19, of Galesburg, IL won seven features driving for Wis-Co Racing, and RFMS Racing, Fike also captured the 2002 Badger Midget Series Title. Bobby East, J.J. Yeley, Davey Ray, A.J. Fike, Dave Steele, and Aaron Fiscus rounded out the top ten. 
      James Chesson won the Design 500 Racewear Rookie of the Year Award. Gaerte engines, and Beast Chassis won the National Midget Manufacturers Championship.

 

Top 100 Drivers
Driver	Points	Races/Wins		Driver	Points	Races/Wins
1. Aaron Fike	1433	45/7		51. Farmer, Chad	360	10/4
2. Hess, Mike	1429	40/4		52. Stout, Shawn	346	20/0
3. Darland, Dave	1411	29/3		53. Corson, Rich	343	18/0
4. Hines, Tracy	1400	39/8		54. Thompson, David	341	16/2
5. East, Bobby	1279	46/6		55. Stewart, Tony	337	7/2
6. Yeley, J.J.	1099	24/4		56. Bull, Ray	336	12/3
7. Ray, Davey	906	29/0		Pankratz, Wally	336	18/3
8. Fike, A.J.	882	36/1		58. Kruseman, Cory	319	6/2
9. Steele, David	792	16/5		59. Wise, Josh	318	21/1
10. Fiscus, Aaron	770	22/0		60. Carpenter, Kyle	312	15/1
11. Pierce, Aaron	756	37/7		61. Johnson, R.J.	309	16/2
12. Hatton, Scott	721	17/1		62. Alvis, Flyod	301	17/2
13. Beach, Teddy	710	36/5		63. Lewis, Kenny	300	15/2
14. Malone, Critter	702	21/2		64. Lueckert, Greg	295	13/1
15. DeSelle, Chad	676	19/1		65. Nervo, John	294	17/0
16. Boorse, Dan	652	17/3		66. Eden, Sondi	293	19/1
Paden, Steve	652	26/0		67. Hessert, Tom - R	291	24/0
18. Waelti, Brandon	640	20/1		68. Leslie, Mike	287	19/0
19. Leffler, Jason	566	13/2		69. Heiss, Mike	286	18/0
20. Gregory, Ron	557	31/2		70. Ferris, Ken	276	12/3
21. Gerster, Brian	518	18/1		71. Brun, Matt	275	17/1
22. Chesson, James-R	513	15/0		72. Scully, Shane	265	11/1
23. Thinnes, Steve	493	19/4		Seymour, Bobby	265	11/1
24. Durst, Ryan-R	471	27/0		74. Fisher, Justin - R	264	18/0
25. Gough, David	470	19/5		75. Siner, Tim	262	13/2
26. Knepper, Steve	469	19/0		76. Camfield, Rich	261	13/0
27. Westfall, Matt	464	17/1		77. Fiscus, Randy	255	18/0
28. Kahne, Kasey	456	6/0		78. Moss, Rick	243	10/5
29. Fornoro, Drew	455	12/3		79. Dolan, Ryan	242	12/1
30. Cabral, Randy	454	14/1		80. Carson, Glenn	238	13/2
31. Wease, Billy	451	26/3		81. Nuetzel, Adam	237	26/0
32. Strickland, Dave	445	14/4		82. Jacobs, Richie	234	12/0
33. Doty, Kevin	442	11/1		83. Schell, Fred	233	11/1
34. Baumgartner, Dave	439	15/2		84.Birmingham Jr David	231	14/2
35.HollingsworthShane	433	18/3		85. Mason, Andy	229	13/0
36. Lewis, Michael	426	10/3		86. Seitz, Ben - R	225	12/0
37. Stoehr, Russ	420	13/2		Dailey, Marc	225	16/2
38. Bumpus, Howard	413	15/2		88.AndruskevitchAaron	222	9/2
39. Flock, Robby	412	18/1		Calvert, Boyd	222	12/0
40. Scott, Ryan	402	17/1		90. Rossi, Toni	219	14/0
Rodela, Jerome	402	21/1		91. McKinney, Dallen	215	13/1
42. Lehmann, Don	398	15/3		Ward, David	215	13/0
43. Ebberts, Danny	394	22/0		93. Linder, Derek	213	11/1
44. Rauch, Keith	388	17/4		Burch, Kyle	213	19/0
45. Icke, Luke	386	17/3		95. Harris, Alex	211	10/2
46. Coons Jr., Jerry	385	13/3		96. Edwards, Chris	210	12/2
47. Stratton, Danny	383	20/2		Elliott, Doug - R	210	19/1
48. McCabe, Quinn	368	16/0		98. Day, Ronnie	208	9/1
49. Carey, Craig	367	21/1		Pernesiglio, Pete	208	9/1
50. Drake, Jay	365	9/2		Sussex, Steve	208	12/1

 

 

537 Drivers Scored Points In  220 Events

123 Events Were Run On Dirt And 97 On Pavement

83 Tracks Were Visited In 27 States

Average Car Count = 26

Most Wins = Tracy Hines 8

Most Races = Bobby East 46

2002 SERIES CHAMPIONS

ARCA	Dave Baumgartner
ARDC	Ray Bull - 3rd Championship (00,01)
AMRA	R.J. Johnson
Badger	Aaron Fike
BCRA	Flyod Alvis - 6th Championship (78,79,80,87,01)
MARA	Steve Knepper - 7th Championship (86,87,89,90,92,96)
NAMARS	Aaron Pierce
NEMA	Russ Stoehr - 5th Championship (90,97,00,01)
RMMRA	Kenny Lewis - 2nd Championship (00)
SMRS	Ryan Durst
UMARA	Steve Thinnes - 3rd Championship (99,01)
USAC Nat'l	Dave Darland - 2nd Championship (01)
USAC West	Robby Flock - 4th Championship (86,89,93)
USAC West Reg	Marc DeBeaumont
WMRA	Ken Ferris